Cognitive psychology - Admission/Application Essay Example

Cognitive Psychology Task Human reasoning is the means used by human beings to improve on their knowledge, and to make better decisions. Reasoning could also be referred as the production of new ideas and understandings based on previously held representations. Reasoning may, however, lead to misrepresentation of information as well as poor decision making (Evans & Newstead 86). According to psychology, human beings are likely to make poor decisions and reason poorly due to lack of a proper argumentative setting.

In an argumentative setting, the people involved are mostly after supporting their views and defending their opinions, rather than supporting the truth. Human reasoning, therefore, misinterprets the truth and allows the persistence of false beliefs. For example, the issues referred to as failures traditionally may not be considered as failures from a reasonable and argumentative point of view. Reasoning is considered as a very essential component of the cognitive system as the final conclusions of the arguments must be accepted as a way of life.

Research on the reasoning psychology has suggested that human beings reason poorly, therefore, failing in decision making and undertaking simple logical tasks (Evans & Newstead 98). The ability of human beings to reason appropriately is, however, dependent on the state of information available in the cognitive system, and which is referred to as the input. People’s reasoning and arguments lead to certain conclusions that play an essential role in generating beliefs that are held without the people’s awareness.

Some of these beliefs may be false and could lead to the misinterpretation of certain values. Due to the people’s desire to defend their own opinions, they are more likely to come up with the wrong conclusions with regards to the myths and beliefs in the cognitive system. These traditions have negative effects on the community, for example, a tradition may not recognize the importance of education, therefore, discouraging people from going to school, a factor which leads to poverty as a long term effect (Evans & Newstead 193).

Works CitedEvans, Jonathan & Newstead, Stephen. Human reasoning: the psychology of deduction. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1993. Print.